In Tray

Those upstanding Manic Street Preachers have announced that their upcoming New Year s Eve gig in Cardiff will be their last live show for the best part of a year, as they intend to spend 2000 in the studio working on what they ve indicated could well be their final album. Whether the Manics compilation will appear before or after the work in progress is a matter for conjecture at the moment but a new single the magnificently-titled Masses Against The Classes is due for release in January and promises a return to the blazing, death-or-glory Punky thrash of their early days. Time to break out the eyeliner again!
Former members of The Stone Roses continue to fluther around the fringes of common sense with their various offshoot projects. Guitarist John Squire, having mercifully disbanded the dire DadRock travesty that was Seahorses has recruited former Verve bassist Simon Jones for his new outfit and is likely to feature material from the aborted Horses second album for the forthcoming venture. Meanwhile, Roses drummer Reni has an album ready to go and is looking for both a record deal and a band, with a prerequisite for the latter that no dopers be involved. Reni is now singing and playing guitar rather than sitting behind the traps, you ll be delighted to hear. Jesus, would these lads just cop themselves on, reform the Roses and have done with it, insisting of course that Ian Brown take some vocal lessons from Mikey, Keith and Shane before stepping anywhere near a microphone.
Has anyone noticed the difference between the performances of local-based acts and big-name imports on the current series of The Late Late Show? The Revenants and The 4 Of Us were completely live while B*Witched, Chris De Burgh and the pairing of Ronan Keating and Brian Kennedy were afforded the luxury of backing tapes to differing degrees. We can only pray that double standards aren t in operation here. Cos that wouldn t be fair and proper, now would it?
There were many laughs to be had during the corporate-sponsored, ego wankfest that was NetAid, but it would take the collective neck of a phalanx of Fianna Failers to top the sight of George Michael singing Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime? All that good work in the toilet ruined in the space of three minutes!
Start practising your lines now if you re a Fiona Apple fan as the title of the angsty one s new album is the tonsil-challenging When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King What He Knows Throws The Blows When He Goes To The Fight And He ll Win The Whole Thing Fore He Enters The Ring There s No Body To Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand And Remember That Depth Is The Greatest Of heights And If You Know Where You Stand Then You Know Where To Land And If You Fall It Won t Matter, Cuz You ll Know That You re Right. Must have gone down a bomb when she handed that little beaut into the record company. n